


Letters, or the Language of Love and Suicide

by TheHarleyQueen



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Ben on the Isle, Dark Ben, F/M, Mal and Maleficent have a good relationship, Queen Mal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHarleyQueen/pseuds/TheHarleyQueen
Summary: Come to the Isle of the Lost, darling. You will be free.M





	1. Suicide

* * *

 

 

The letter sat on Ben's desk, looking odd and out-of-place. It was written on cheap, lined paper, instead of the thick parchment of most of his missives arrived on. It was sealed- there was that. The seal was purple, and the wax was cracking around the edges- it had been lying there for a while. The crest itself was an elaborate M imposed in front of the morning star. Ben didn't recognize it- it wasn't Audrey’s or Chad’s or even Jane’s- and that was enough to tell him that he should have called Cogsworth long ago. But he hadn't.

Because there was something about the letter that drew him in. It wasn't normal, and Ben _craved_ that. So he hadn't called Cogsworth. And he crept towards the letter, slowly, debating on whether to it pick up. And then magick made the decision for him.

 

The letter flew into his hand. The moment it touched his flesh, however, something happened. A blinding light flew out of the folded paper and encircled his wrists, creating a set of cuffs glowing on his arm. He unfolded the letter and began to read.

 

_Prince Benjamin of the House Beast,_

 

_You don't know my name. But you know my house. And you know where I represent. Even if you don't want to believe it, your hunch is true. This letter has been sent to you from the Isle of the Lost. And you know whom the crest represents. The House of Magick. And this letter comes to you as a proposition of Marriage._

 

_If you've touched it, we are betrothed. So It Has Been, So It Shall Be. But this requires one last sacrifice from you, my dear prince._

 

_Come to the Isle of the Lost and seal the alliance. You may be a Prince where you are now, but on the Isle of the Lost, you will be my_ **_king_** _._

 

_My darling Prince, the House of Magick awaits you on tenterhooks. When you join us, we will rule all of the Isle of the Lost together. And soon, all of Auradon. You are my chosen consort and lover, and by my word, that shall never fade through all of time. Come to the Isle of the Lost, darling. You will be free._

 

_M_

 

The Isle of the Lost. The island Ben had stared out at for years, wondering what it was like, to be there, to be _free_. And now, he had an invitation to the Isle of the Lost, a way to never lose the thrill that came from crawling out the palace windows in the dead of night, the thrill that came from running, _running_ without a thought to stop.

A betrothal meant nothing. He'd been part of six betrothals so far, and he was only fourteen. They always found someone better for their plans. So a betrothal contract, versus a trip to the _one place_ he'd been dreaming about for years? There was no question.

 

Ben walked out of the palace, and he didn't return for a long, _long_ time.

 

* * *

 

The Isle of the Lost was dirty, and dark, and cold. That much Ben knew, from before he set foot within its walls. He knew he was sacrificing _magick_ , and _power_ by walking into the prison full of the most dangerous criminals in all the worlds. And he didn't care. Because the moment he set foot on the island that was once Neverland, he felt the _rules_ and the _impositions_ and the _life_ his maman had carefully constructed for him sliding off him, dissolving into thin air, and it was _amazing_.

A girl stepped out of the shadows, and she was _beautiful_. She was pale- so pale she was as _white as snow_. And her hair was dark black, with the shadows cast upon it (if Ben could see it, in broad daylight, he’d see that it was _royal blue_ ). But her lips- her lips were the _masterpiece_. Because they weren’t just _blood red_ , no, they were _dripping with real blood_ . And Ben _should be terrified, but all he could see was_ **_beauty_**. And then she spoke, and her voice was light and beautiful and reminded him of his mamman’s voice when she sang him to sleep.

 

_“So the princeling has come to be a king. The Queen will be_ **_delighted_** _._ ” Her voice sent shivers down his spine, but then the angel grabbed his hand, and started pulling him somewhere, and he _couldn’t_ think of anything except her touch, and her skin, so he followed her { _after all, if Ben had any sense of self-preservation, he would_ **_never_ ** _have come to the Isle in the first place_ }. And she dragged him through the Isle of the Lost, snarling { _snarling_ } at the people who stared too long, smiling at him, taking things from the stalls they passed and tossing them to him { _and wasn’t that just a_ **_thrill_** _, taking stuff without giving back_ } and once, she even stopped to kiss a boy { _they left the boy behind, on the ground, trembling, and almost a pale as the angel herself_ }. At some point, she started taking more random turns, and even started retracing her footsteps { _she wants to lose someone. She’s got a tail_ }. She even dragged him behind some garbage bins at one stage, motioning for him to stay silent and low, and then crept away. And _fuck_ , if that wasn’t terrifying.

 

He stood still for _so long_ , trusting the girl, _trusting_ her, and then he realised that _this was the Isle of the Lost, not Auradon. He couldn’t trust anyone_. So he left. Walked out into the marketplace, decided to try find the angel. But after passing two stalls, he realised that it would be _much_ harder than he’d anticipated, because everyone needed to be bought off, and he had nothing. He put a hand on the knife his papa had given to him {" _For self-defence only, Ben. You must never hurt someone that hasn’t grievously harmed you”_ } and then he had a plan.

_“Where’s the angel-girl?”_ And, okay, yeah, that wasn’t the best description he could have given, but the _pathetic piece of scum_ he was talking to had been _molesting_ a girl when Ben stumbled upon him. The piece of shit could suffer.

 

_“I don’t know who you’re talking about! Please, please! I didn’t do anything. Who’s the angel-girl? Who are_ **_you_ ** _?”_ The man was _panicking_ , and Ben revelled in it, delighted in the fear he was causing the other man { _but already, Ben was becoming_ **_less_ ** _of a man, and more of a Beast_ }. _“The girl with blood on her lips. Where is she? You have one more shot to get this right.”_

The man shuddered and jerked, his eyes flying open, _“Her Ladyship is in Maleficent’s Palace with the Queen. The- the biggest building. You can’t miss it. It’s at the top of the city.”_ And his shoulders sagged in relief _because he thought he would get away_. That was before Ben slit his throat { ** _and took his heart, as a gift to the angel-girl_** }.

 

* * *

 

_“He’ll be here, Evie. I chose him for a reason. There’s no one else for me to marry. He just has to unlock his_ **_true potential_ ** _.”_ The voice was even more beautiful than the angel-girl’s. It was deep and raspy, but still feminine. It sounded, Ben thought, like power and smoke. And he had to hear more.

 

_“But I don’t see why I had to just leave him. He was cute, and he’s not used to the Isle. And I also don’t see why you have to get married already. You’re only fifteen.”_

 

_“And I’m fae, and a queen. This is the way of the world, Eve. And I don’t care for a Prince like you. I need a_ **_king_** _.”_

 

A third voice broke in, a man’s voice, that was deeper than the first woman’s and harsher than angel-girl’s, _“Ladies, I hate to interrupt what I’m sure will be a_ **_riveting_ ** _conversation and_ **_not at all_ ** _like the three previous conversations that were_ **_exactly the same_** _, but we have a guest._ ” That was Ben’s cue, he knew, and so he prowled into the light, the _asshole’s_ heart clutched in his hand, dripping blood onto the stone floors of _Maleficent’s Palace_. But when he saw the other woman, he froze. Because angel-girl was beautiful, but this faerie was _radiant_. And he knew, he knew he was hers and vice versa because she wore the same glowing cuffs as he did. He bent low as he bowed and presented the heart.

 

_“My Queen.”_

  



	2. Love

Ben was dressed in leather and precious stones and expensive metals and _power_. He sat next to Mal, wore her cuffs on his wrists and her ring on his finger. Across from them sat Evie { _angel-girl_ } and Maleficent { _the Maleficent, the mistress of all Evil. His wife's mother and teacher}_ both impassive and beautiful {because even he, who was so in love with Mal he was blinded by it, could see that Maleficent held a timeless beauty}, both staring him down. Maleficent seemed content to just sit and stare, so eventually it was Mal who broke the thick silence.

 

“ _You received my note, mother? How wonderful. This is Ben. My husband.”_

 

And when Maleficent spoke, it rattled Ben to his bones, high and rasping and terrifying and _magick_ all at once. He understood how she could have commanded so much power, when she spoke, because he'd follow her voice to the ends of the earth. He'd throw himself on a knife if that voice told him to, so thickly was it laced with _power_ and a _command_ , _“I received your note. I see no reason of import that I should be here. You married a **human** , Mal. They're weak, and he will **die**.” _

Evie { _angel-girl_ } leaned over and whispered something in Maleficent’s ear, something that made the mistress of all Evil’s lips curl up into a half smile, “ _But if he is, as Evie tells me, the Princeling of Auradon, I might be able to make an exception. Tell me, **Ben** , are you the **Crown Prince** and **Heir** of Auradon?” _

 

And the smile that Maleficent wore, that smile of _pride_ , told him she already knew exactly who he was, that she was testing him. And he had no idea of the answer. So he sat, in silence, and held eye contact with the faerie, whose magick began to flare so that he could feel it. Maleficent wasn't used to being _ignored_ by her subjects. Especially not the ones that _needed_ her approval. Then Evie { _angel-girl_ } kissed the Isle’s Ruler on her cheek, and immediately, the room calmed down, the wind that had been whipping up died, and the green faded from Maleficent’s eyes. And Ben still didn't know what to say.

 

 _“Yes, mother. He is. And you knew that,”_ Mal was angry, with her mom, with him. This tension that filled the room wasn't _supposed_ to happen. Her mother was supposed to approve her chosen mate to seal the fae marriage. That was it. Instead, her mother and her husband were engaged in a battle of wills, and her mother would _not_ be the one to end off worse.

And then { _finally_ } Ben spoke, “ _First, I am Mal’s Husband, and King of the Isle. Then I am heir to Auradon, yes._ ” And by the smile on her mother’s face, she knew Ben had answered correctly { _how he'd come to the conclusion of what to say, Mal didn't know. But he had._ }

 

* * *

 

Many, many years later, it was Auradon’s Day of Mourning. It would have been their Prince’s sixteenth birthday. He would have become King, had he not disappeared a year ago. He'd since been declared dead, and today, the nation would mourn.

Except, they hadn't looked in the one place Ben would go, and so he was alive, prospering, married and a king. And today, he became King of Auradon by the rites of Magick. Today, he gave his Queen what she wanted most in the world. And he gave his Queen’s mothers {for the angel-girl had married the Mistress of all Evil, mismatched though he thought they were} their own nation to rule, the nation of the Isle of the Lost, when he gave his Queen the country she so hated and envied.

 

And so when Magick declared him King of Auradon { _and his wife the **Queen**_ } he tore down the barrier that tried so hard to keep Magick out, but couldn't, not when the two most powerful faeries of the last millennia both resided there, and he gave his Queen a crown of platinum { _the most expensive metal in Auradon_ } that was also a crown of thorns { _and Briar Rose never stood a chance_ }, and he gave the angel-girl a golden crown set with amethyst, and he gave _the Mistress_ the crown that had sat on Briar Rose’s head when _he cut it off._

And life was _good_. The two Kings took Agrabah for their own, and they ruled well. And he and his Queen had all they ever wanted, and he wore the crown that had been crafted for him when he was set to be the good King of Auradon, except the crown was splattered with i and encrusted with _death_.

 

* * *

 

**Ben, my love,**

 

**Do you know, it's been ten years since I sent you that first letter. Since you came to me, since you gave me that heart. Since you became mine. We’ve accomplished much in these last years, love. We're the King and Queen, we're successful monarchs and parents and lovers and children. We've married Evie and mother. We've made Carlos and Jay get their act together (so what is it was through force? They needed a goddamn hard shove). We've killed Sleeping Beauty and Her bratish daughter.**

 

**You are my King, my love. And I worship you. I told mother you were the right choice. And look how right I was. Auradon is ours. The world is ours. And it's all because of you. My darling, my love, my beast. We've set each other free. And I could never love you more.**

 

**Yours eternally,**

**M**


End file.
